HANS HARTUNG (German/French /
1904-1989)

Hans Hartung was born in Leipzig, and studied art in Dresden and Munich. He left Nazi Germany for France in 1935; he fought in the French Foreign Legion in WWII, losing a leg, and took French citizenship in 1945. The art of Hans Hartung was purely abstract from 1928. His bold gestural style was a major influence on American abstract expressionists. There are eight works by Hans Hartung in the Tate Gallery, four paintings and four prints. Hartung's influence can be seen in the work of the great Czech etcher Terry Haass, who was a close artistic and personal friend of Hartung and his wife Anna-Eva Bergman.